Friday Morning Manna
December 6, 2019 Nathaniel Fajardo
email: [email protected]
The Creator Given a Human Body and Will in the Incarnation
“I delight to do Thy will, O My God, yea Thy law is written in My heart.”
Ps. 40: 8, K.J.V.
Here we have the first revelation of the not-yet incarnated Creator, expressing through the psalmist by way of prophecy, what His will was, is, and ever will simply because “He is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Heb. 13: 8.
It was, and is the only-begotten Son’s delight from the beginning to do the will of the Father whom He loves, willingly, voluntarily, purposefully, untiringly and spontaneously. Such love is divine, excelling, and undying. Without such a will, such kind of love, such delightful obedience to do God’s will by obeying His law from the heart, is impossible.
Christ the Sinless One, the “holy One of Israel” alone possessed a sinless will before and after His incarnation. The first Adam also had an uncorrupted yet undeveloped will before the transgression. After his fall, all the rest of us to the very last person alive before earth’s probation closes have a sinful and perverse will that needs to be sanctified before our individual probation ends in death. Without the sanctification of our will by submitting to God’s will, we will not receive the seal of living God in our foreheads that signifies fitness for heaven.
What is the will? – Translated to English from several Hebrew and Greek words, the will in the Old and New Testaments means, “to incline to,” by implication “to bend;” figuratively, “to be pleased with desire;” “be willing;” be disposed,” “intend,” “satisfaction,” “kindness,” “wish,” “purpose,” “a determination, choice, inclination,” “choose or prefer,” “option,” or “choice
John, the youngest of the Twelve was not only young in age but more specially at heart. And it showed and told. He loved and demonstrated that love and trust as a child does his loving father. All he wanted was to be constantly by the Savior’s side, to hear and feel Him. It was this innocent, honest, pure, unabashedly expressed degree of child-like love, admiration and devotion that elicited the human-divine reaction of Christ, meriting him the distinction, “the beloved disciple.” So was Daniel, centuries earlier. Both were chosen and entrusted above the rest to write the two major interconnected books of prophecy, Daniel and Revelation. This was not arbitrary by any means on the part of God, nor was it by default but by divine design.
This made John a keen observer of Christ, discerning in Him in a relatively short time the invisible Father revealed through the visible Son in His words, works, and life. This is why the Gospel of John is the most sublime of the four gospels. His eye of faith, having acquired “the mind of Christ” as the beloved disciple, recognized divinity in humanity through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He perceived Christ’s quiescent divinity in His active Human ministry, walking as a Man among men, among them. John saw, experienced and wrote as thus enlightened his gospel narrative from the angle of the love of the Father and the Son for one another, their combined love for fallen mankind, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to bring this love right into the hearts of minds of all who were willing, and submitted their will to God in Christ.
John quotes Jesus saying of Himself and His mission: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son of man can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” ”I can of Myselfdo nothing. As I hear I judge; and My judgment is righteous because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” “My food (meat) is to do the will that sent Me.” He that does not love Me does not keep My words, and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father who sent me.” John 5: 19, 4: 34; 5: 19.
In order that that Christ the last Adam, could and was actually “tempted in all points like as we are tempted,” beginning with Adam’s temptations to the last living person’s temptations before probation ends, “yet without sinning,”—He given the same human will that the first Adam had in “the body that was prepared for Him” and “was written in the volume/scroll of the book,” announcing ‘here I come.” Christ had to consciously exercise His given will as the last Adam, to choose not to yield to any and all of Satan’s temptations. Thank God the sacred Record says He never yielded, not even in thought or imagination! He gained the victory in our behalf and as our Example! “Thanks be to God for the victory in Christ!”
Developing the untested will and character of the first Adam
As the crowning act and masterpiece of God’s creative power, the first Adam was the first and only creature among all of God’s innumerable creation—including angels who were created before man was—whom He literally formed from the pure, uncorrupted dust of unfallen earth with His own hands and made him in His image and likeness. He breathed into the “nostrils” of the perfect yet lifeless mannequin as it were, His own life. Then it stood up as “a living soul” and thereafter was named “Adam” by God. The first Adam was made a perfect man, beginning as an adult, not as an infant. He was read-made, not born. The same was true with woman, with this one difference: she was not made directly from the dust of the ground as man was, but from a rib taken from man, hence woman, later named Eve.
All their children, and all humans thereafter, begin forming inside the womb and are not considered born till they emerge, in its appointed time into the world, as an infant. This was the natural law that governed the incarnation and birth of Christ. Gal. 4: 4. But unlike the first Adam, the last Adam began as an infant, born of Mary, not ready-made as the Man.
There was nothing more that could to be added or taken away after the first Adam was created, which is the essence of perfection. He stood in the original magnificence of the physical and moral image and likeness of His Creator. But man was created a free moral agent, with a will. The will, which is central to person’s character is the governing power in man, rendering him a rational being, in contrast and distinction to all other creatures, particularly animals who were not made free moral agents, do not have a conscience to discern between righteousness and unrighteousness but function through instinct. True, angels were also created with a power of choice but they were not made in the image and likeness of the Creator, were not intended to be the vicegerent of the Creator but to be “ministering spirits” having no flesh, blood and bones, thus, not equipped or designed for procreation as man was and still is. Hence the original command to Adam and Eve to “go forth and multiply and replenish (fill) the earth.”
The will, that is central to moral character is the governing power man’s nature. He was created with it in the beginning, he possesses it now as he constantly makes choices to either serve one of only two masters, God or Satan. Matt. 6: 24. The eternally redeemed will have and use it throughout of eternity to intellectually, spiritually, willingly, voluntarily and spontaneously love, adore, obey and worship God endlessly in word, action and service. Love begets love, and keeps multiplying. This is the true essence of freedom and liberty. Man was never made an automaton and the gospel never turns him into one in his restoration.
As revealed in the incarnation of the Creator of partaking of the same human nature we have, so that He, the last Adam” could and was “tempted in all points as we are tempted, yet without sin,” is the secret of how sinners can have power, control and victory over what, on his own,—even in the first Adam’s sinless state much less after the fall—could never achieve regarding the tempter and temptation, and that is:— the willing, voluntary and constant surrender of the human will to the divine will in abiding trust. Willing to be made willing to do God’s will.
It was the will that is central to moral character that was supposed to be developed from its innocent infant state in the first Adam. While he was created perfectly sinless, Adam’s will as a free moral agent, though uncorrupted, untainted and free from any defects or sinful propensities was yet untested and undeveloped—not underdeveloped. It was a clean blank slate as it were in perfect state of purity, undeveloped. The need for moral character perfection or regeneration arose only after man fell. This is what divine grace in the plan of salvation, the gospel, was designed to accomplish in fallen man on fallen earth!
The very first test of loyalty and obedience—the simplest there could be where no natural need clamored to be satisfied in perfect Eden—was designed to start that process of developing the will with the possibility that it would be exercised contrary to that which God desired and willed for him. Sadly, that is what happened. Adam fell and became a sinner. The gospel kicked in.
If the first Adam prevailed in that simple first test, it was the very beginning of developing his will and character into joyful freedom to exercise his will as a developed habit to only obey God by doing His will, and doing it willingly, lovingly and intelligently throughout eternity.
The first Adam enjoyed this for a short while (the Bible does say how long) until that moment he decided in his mind, to choose to yield to Satan’s temptation, facilitated through his wife, to “experiment” with exercising his will against the Creator’s will. The first Adam fell, bringing down humanity with him, necessitating the last Adam to come to the rescue in order to bridge the great chasm created, reinstate the relation between God and man and restore the pure white linen of innocence and perfect righteousness of Christ. These is what “salvation” comprehends. It is not just the rescue itself of a damaged sinking ship and towing it back to the dockyards but the vital work of restoration to render it “sea-worthy” again. Only then can the same ship be relaunched into the ocean!
The following illustrates this more fully: The “wedding garment” in the parable and the “fine linen, pure and white” spoken of by Paul in his epistle and John in the Revelation, is the restored robe of innocence” that appeared as “beautiful soft light enshrouding” the first Adam and his wife Eve before their fall. It is this which the gospel restores in fallen man, fitting, sealing and marking him on earth for eternity.
“The wedding garment in the parable is represented the pure, spotless character which Christ’s true followers will possess. To the church it is given ‘that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white’ ‘not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.’ The fine linen, says the Scripture, ‘is the righteousness of the saints.’ Rev. 19: 8; Eph. 7: 27. It is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted [through the process of sanctification, not instant justification] to all who receive Him as their personal Savior. [Hence, ultimately, victory over sin and eternal salvation is individual].
“The white robe of innocence was worn by our first parents when they were placed by God in holy Eden. They lived in perfect conformity to the will of God. All the strength of their affection was given to their Heavenly Father. A beautiful soft [not blazing] light, the light of God, enshrouded the holy pair. This robe of light was a symbol of their spiritual garments of heavenly innocence. Had they remained true to God it would ever have continued to enshroud them. But when sin entered [through the mystery of iniquity], they severed [cut-off, separated] their connection with God, and the light that had encircled them departed. Naked and ashamed [by guilt], they tried to supply the place of the heavenly garments by sewing together fig-leaves for a covering.
“This what the transgressors of God’s law have done ever since the day of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. They have sewn together fig-leaves to cover the nakedness caused by transgression. They have worn the garments of their own devising, by works of their own they have tried to cover their sins, and make themselves acceptable to God [This is the essence of righteousness by works, the religion of man, and Cain worship.]
“But this they can never do. Nothing can man devise to supply the place of his lost robe of innocence. No fig-leaf garment, no worldly citizen-dress, can be worn by those who sit down with Christ and the angels at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Only the covering which Christ Himself has provided, can make us meet [fit] to appear in God’s presence. This covering, the robe of His own righteousness.” – Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 310, 311.
How do we acquire in truth and fact the “wedding garment,” the “fine white linen,” the “garments and robe of Christ’s righteousness,” receive the seal of God in our foreheads and thus gain “an abundant entrance” to the grand “wedding feast and supper of the Lamb?”
“This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not a thread of human devising. Christ in His humanity wrought out a perfect character [Heb. 5: 8, 9], and this character He offers to impart to us. ‘All our righteousness are filthy rags.’ Everything that we of ourselves can do is defiled by sin. But the Son of God was ‘manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.’ Sin is defined to be ‘the transgression of the law.’ 1 John 3: 5, 4. But Christ was obedient to every requirement of His law. He said of Himself,’ [Ps. 40: 8 quoted]. When on earth He said to His disciples ‘I have kept My Father’s commandments.’ John 15: 10. By His perfect obedience He makes it possible for every human being to obey God’s commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, the heart is united to His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garments of His righteousness. Then as the Lord looks upon us, He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah.” – Ibid, 311-2.
(To be continued next week)